Odisha boy dies after falling from hill while attending online class

NEW DELHI: A 13-year-old tribal boy has died after falling from a hill while attending an online class in Odisha's Rayagada district, police said on Wednesday.

The deceased, identified as Andriya Jagaranga, had climbed the hill near his Pandarguda village in Padmapur block on Tuesday for better internet connectivity, a police officer said. While attending the online class, a huge stone, on which the class 8 student of a Cuttack school was sitting, slipped and he came rolling down the hill with the stone falling on his right leg and crushing it, he said.

Locals rushed him to a hospital in Padmapur, where he succumbed to his injuries, the officer said. The incident happened barely three days ahead of Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw's scheduled visit to the district.

District Magistrate-cum-Collector S K Mishra said he was unaware of the incident and will inquire into it, while the Gunupur sub-collector said that many students in the area climb hills to attend online classes due to poor internet connectivity in the region.

Odisha's School and Mass Education Minister S R Dash had earlier admitted that only 40 per cent of the students in the state have access to good internet connectivity, while the remaining 60 per cent face network issues.

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